To Kill An Angel (25 page)

As I turned my attention back to Bo and saw the panic and heartbreak in his eyes, I realized what had made the difference in this version.  The difference was me.  The whole point of this vision suddenly became clear to me. 

In order for Bo to live, I had to die. 

As I was digesting this new revelation, something suddenly and without warning jerked me out of the vision.  It was like being sucked out of a moving car.  I was instantly gone from the vision and back in Sebastian’s living room, tucked securely in Cade’s arms.  My cheeks were wet with tears and my forehead rested against his chin.

When I leaned back and raised my eyes to Cade’s, I didn’t have to ask if he saw it, too.  I knew he did.

“Ridley, does that mean what I think it means?”

“That Savannah’s next?” I offered quickly, giving Cade a stern and meaningful look.  He frowned in disapproval, but said nothing to give me away.  “I can only assume so.”

“What did you see?” Bo asked, appearing at my side to extricate me from Cade’s grasp.

I shot Cade one more warning look before I schooled my features and turned to Bo.

“I saw Savannah and she was terrified.  I don’t know exactly
what
happens, but somehow I know she’s next,” I said.  “It’s not as clear as it was with Devon, but maybe we should act as though it was.  Maybe this is a warning that we need to get to Savannah.  Now.”

“Well, Devon should be with her right now,” Bo observed, always rational.

“Yeah, but what about later?”

“So you have no idea when this happens?  Or where?”

I shook my head.

Bo watched me thoughtfully for several tense seconds.

“Are you sure that’s it?  That’s all you saw?”

I nodded.

“Honestly, I didn’t see anything else, like where she was, who she was afraid of, where they took her, anything.”

And that was absolutely true.  About Savannah, that is.

His eyes narrowed on me suspiciously, so I quickly took control of the conversation, afraid he might somehow pin me down.

“So I’m thinking that since I’m all juiced up on human blood, I can be around Savannah without having to worry, right?”

“Eh,” Bo said as he did a kind of back and forth thing with his head that wasn’t really agreement or disagreement.

“Well, at any rate, you’ll be here.  And Devon.  I say that, tomorrow morning, I go get her and bring her here.  She can tell her dad she’s housesitting with me.”

“Babe, it
is
tomorrow morning,” Bo said, cocking his head toward the wall of windows that was flooded with the pastel-hued sunrise.

“Oh, right,” I said, smiling sheepishly.  “Time sure does fly when you’re battling hell hounds, doesn’t it?”

Bo grinned.

“Why don’t we wait for Devon to get back, see what he says and then we’ll go from there?”

I wanted to argue, but I couldn’t.  That sounded far too reasonable to dispute.

“Maybe I should at least call her, make sure she’s alright and tell her what I want to do.”

Bo chuckled. 

“Alright then.  Call her if you must,” he granted in an exasperated voice.

I dug my phone out of my pocket and dialed Savannah.  It was answered on the first ring, but not by the voice I expected to hear.

“Hey, Ridley,” Devon whispered into the phone.

“How—”I paused for a moment, wondering, but then answered the question I hadn’t asked—caller ID.  “Where’s Savannah?  Why are you answering her phone?  And why are you whispering?” I whispered in return.

“She’s asleep.  Why are
you
whispering?”

I thought about that for a second and then we both laughed.

“Good question,” I replied at a more normal level.  “Devon, I’ve got a favor.”

I explained to him what I’d seen and what I wanted to do with regard to Savannah.  Of course, Devon wanted to spend as much time with Savannah as possible, as well as ensure her safety, so he was completely in favor of the plan.

“So then you’ll stay with her until she wakes up, tell her about the plan and then call me so I can come get her, right?”

“Right.”

“Don’t tell her it has anything to do with her mother.  Just tell her it’s Sebastian.”

“I won’t.  I don’t want to upset her.”

“Good.  Neither do I.”

“Well, I guess I’ll be waiting to hear from you then.”

“And you don’t think her dad will have a problem with her skipping time with the tutor today?  Or that he’ll wonder why you’re out of school on a Friday, too?” Devon asked.

“Savannah’s creative.  She’ll think of something,” I responded, never in doubt of Savannah’s ingenuity.

“Good point,” Devon said.  “Okay, I’ll call you when it’s time to come and get her.”

We hung up and I turned to Bo.

“Done deal.”

I was inordinately pleased, feeling for just a moment as if we’d somehow thwarted Sebastian.  I knew that there was so much more involved than just managing to hide Savannah, but I felt it was best to celebrate the small victories.  I might not be around to celebrate the big one.

Pushing that thought away, I smiled my smile of great accomplishment, at which Bo grinned.

“Now you can rest easy,” he stated.  “Shall we go see what new developments your skin has to show?”

Bo taking off my clothes to rub his hands all over my skin?  Yes, please!

I simply smiled and Bo took my hand, leading me back to the one small sanctuary we had in all this mess.  Once inside my room, Bo removed my shirt to look for new writing.  There was none on my chest this time, but he found some on my belly and my side.  After he scrutinized them, Bo turned me around.

He ran his fingers gently over the skin of my back, but it wasn’t until he’d reached my waist that I could tell that he’d found something.  Once again, he leaned in so closely I could feel his breath fanning my skin.

I heard a soft shuffling and looked over my shoulder to see that Bo had gotten down on his knees behind me.  He looked up at me and my stomach fluttered.

“Turn around,” he said quietly.

Without question, I did as he asked.  His eyes dropped to my navel and he reached forward, pushing the button of my jeans through the hole to release it.  After he slid the zipper down, Bo ran his thumb under my waist band and began to shimmy my jeans over my hips and down my legs.  I watched his face as he uncovered my body, inch by inch.  I could tell by the increasing blackness of his eyes that his desire was on the rise as my jeans fell to the floor and pooled around my ankles.

Without being told, I kicked off my shoes and stepped out of my pants.  Bo pushed them aside and, with one hand to my hip, urged me back in front of him.

Excruciatingly slowly, Bo ran his hands up and down my legs and then placed one kiss just below my navel.  Chills spread across my stomach and I sucked in my breath.

When he looked up at me, it felt as though his eyes—eyes so full of love and desire and something dark and ravenous—seared me to my soul.  Finally, he spoke.

“Turn around.”

Shivering with excitement, I did as he asked and let him examine my back side.  I felt his fingers again, skating over my skin like a warm breeze.  He traced shapes at my waist and down to my left hip, beneath the material of my panties.

When he spoke again, I had all but forgotten that there was a reason for my dishabille.

“He needs the blood of Corruption, Death, Betrayal, Hatred, Envy and Doom to destroy me.  He will use it somehow to invade and vaporize my angelic form.  Only one element can protect me and weaken him, but it doesn’t say which one yet.”

I looked over my shoulder again at Bo.  His revelation was very sobering. 

He stood and I turned toward him.

“Are you sure?”

He nodded.

“I don’t know how I understand what it means, but I do.”

“And you think Devon and Savannah are two of the people he needs?”

He nodded again.  I thought as much, too.

“You know,” Bo said, sliding his fingers around my neck and into my hair.  “We don’t have to do this.  We could just run away together.  We could forget about Sebastian, get married and spend eternity making love on a beach somewhere in a third world country.”

I wound my fingers around his wrist.

“You know we can’t do that.  He’ll always be looking for you, trying to find you and destroy the only person on the planet that could take his miserable life.  This has to be done.”

“What if I don’t care?  What if I’d rather risk it and spend as many years as I can with you?”

I smiled.

“You’re not that guy, Bo.  It’s one of the thousands of reasons I love you.”

Bo took a step forward, bringing his body into contact with my scantily clad one until he was touching me from nipple to thigh.  He wrapped the fingers of his other hand around my neck, rubbing his thumbs soothingly over my jawline.

“Once he’s gone, would you do that?”

“Do what?”

“Run away with me,” he answered, then added softly, “marry me.”

My heart sped up, thudding wildly against my ribs. 

I must be misunderstanding him,
I thought.

“What do you- I mean, what are you saying?”

Bo’s eyes bored hot holes into mine.

“I’m asking if you’ll marry me,” he whispered earnestly.

I caught and held my breath.  A dozen random thoughts raced through my head, but beneath them all, a trill of pure euphoria rang.

I was so happy at the thought of pledging my life to Bo that I was speechless.  But in my silence, Bo read a different meaning.

“I know you’re young, Ridley, and that you’ve got a lot of life ahead of you, but we wouldn’t have to do it right away.  We could wait a little while.  I just wouldn’t want to wait too long, because if I’m mortal and you’re—”

“Yes,” I interrupted quietly.

“What?” Bo asked carefully, one corner of his mouth curling up hesitantly.

“I said ‘yes’,” I repeated, feeling a radiant smile curve my own lips.

“Really?”

“Yes, really.”

Bo’s faced relaxed into a boyish expression of sheer delight that warmed me to my toes.  He’d actually considered that I might say no and the thought of his insecurity made my consent feel all the sweeter.

With one sharp bark of laughter, Bo took his fingers out of my hair and grabbed me around the waist.  Crushing my body to his, Bo lifted me off my feet and swung me around.

I tucked my face into his neck to smother the giggle of elation that bubbled in my throat.  I noticed that Bo’s scent was stronger than usual and I realized that his blood was warm with happiness, saturating his skin with his unique aroma as it seeped through his pores.  Maybe that’s why I always smelled it so strongly.  Maybe I made him happy.